Xherdan Shaqiri is adamant that Switzerland fully deserved their World Cup play-off victory over Northern Ireland last night, despite the controversial nature of their winning goal.

The Stoke City star and his Swiss team-mates are well placed to reach next summer’s finals in Russia after claiming a 1-0 first leg victory in Belfast with a contentious penalty that was converted by Ricardo Rodriguez.

It was Shaqiri’s shot that Blackburn midfielder Corry Evans was adjudged to have handled by referee Ovidiu Hategan.

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The Stoke winger added: “I’m very pleased with the performance. I know how tough it is to play here… many teams have struggled before.

“I’m very proud of the team that we took maybe the best result we could get here. It was a clean sheet and we scored once – that’s perfect for us.”

No European team has ever qualified for the World Cup via the play-offs after losing the opening leg at home, highlighting the magnitude of the task awaiting the Irish in the return in Basel on Sunday.

Xherdan Shaqiri fires in the shot that hits Corry Evans and leads to the penalty that sees Switzerland beat Northern Ireland in their World Cup play-off game at Windsor Park. (Image: Charles McQuillan)

Shaqiri knows Michael O’Neill’s men will need to be bolder than they were at Windsor Park.

He said: “Northern Ireland didn’t do enough to score because we played very well. We kept the ball for 90 minutes, we tried to create more chances and in the end we deserved to win.

“It is going to be very difficult for them to come to Basel and play more offensively than they did.

“They need to score to try to qualify, and when they try to play offensively it’s going to be more open for us to score.”